Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to jump over a horizontal crossbar. A pair of pole vault standards disposed adjacent to a landing pad support the crossbar that athletes must clear during a pole vault event. Rules and regulations generally require that the pole vault standards be securely anchored to the ground or sufficiently weighted to prevent the possibility of tipping over.
Typically, each of the pole vault standards include a base and a vertical uprights for supporting the crossbar. The most common method for anchoring pole vault standards includes an exposed concrete foundation sized slightly larger than the footprint of the base, allowing for the base to be manually affixed to the concrete with appropriate hardware. By way of traditional methods, the concrete foundations are formed by hand. The size and depth are not controlled, the exposed concrete is left at the surface, and manual drilling must be carefully performed for the anchoring of the hardware. Certain hardware cannot be easily removed or replaced, for example, if epoxied into the concrete.
For a large percentage of new construction applications, the pole vault runway and landing area includes asphalt and/or concrete which is then coated with a resilient rubber track material, typically ½ inch in depth. In such cases, the aforementioned exposed concrete foundations often represent the only hard and unyielding surface in the pole vault event area. In cases where the concrete foundations are recessed ½ inch to allow for coating of the rubber surface, it is then difficult to properly locate the foundations prior to manually drilling and anchoring the hardware. Furthermore, doing so not only risks damage to the newly laid and highly expensive track surface, but creates recessed cavities where water can collect allowing for potential damage in the future as a result of freezing and thawing.